The tie that binds: UNH pair share national archery title

DURHAM — Joe Wilkin and Seth Tremblay are close, but this takes friendship to a new level.

As members of the University of New Hampshire archery club, they participated in a regional competition earlier this month and posted identical scores to win the shoot.

When their scores were compared with those from the seven other regional sites, they held up. Wilkin and Tremblay tied for first in the bowhunter division of the U.S. Collegiate Archery National Indoor Championships.

"It's incredibly rare to have the exact same score, especially in a national championship," said coach Carla Campanion. "I've never seen it."

"That never happens," Wilkin said.

Until now. There were several tiebreakers in place but the New Hampshire natives had the same number of 10s, nines and eights.

Since it's the final shoot of the year and the competitors are from the same school it will go into the books as a tie.

"We have this ongoing competition," said Tremblay, a graduate of Wolfeboro's Kingswood Regional High School. "Of course it's friendly, but with that competitive nature you always kind of want to be on top. The fact that he is my best friend and shared the victory with me, I'll take that for sure."

Wilkin and Tremblay each scored 1,144 points out of a possible 1,200 on March 3-4 at the UNH field house. They were shooting at different targets during the competition so they didn't know how the other was doing until the end.

"We actually requested to be on different targets the day of the shoot," Wilkin said, "because we didn't want to mess up our mental (focus)."

"When they compared scores they burst out laughing." Companion said. "They thought it was funny."

They didn't find out they'd won the national title until two weeks later when Companion sent them an email with the results after the other scores from around the country were in.

"I was anxious," Tremblay said. "As soon as I got the email, lot of excitement for sure because it's the first for me and for him too."

For Wilkin, it was like waiting for a grade on a final exam he knew he aced. The senior shared a national championship in his final college shoot.

"I was pretty relaxed," said Wilkin, who is from Warren and went to high school at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. "I was pretty comfortable with my score, and the fact that I tied with my teammate and friend was good. I was really excited about that."

The two-day competition consisted of 60 arrows per day at a distance of 18 meters (or 60 feet). They each hit the bull's-eye — which is about the size of a penny — 65 out of 120 arrows.

"I was so shocked," Tremblay said of the tie. "I was almost losing my mind. I wasn't expecting it at all. We shot 120 arrows. What are the chances?"

The UNH archery club has 40 registered members. About half attend practice on a regular basis, including 10 who are considered serious competitors.

When Companion joined the club 12 years ago as a student it had three members. Because of that growth and other factors such as accessibility of the campus, UNH was hosting a regional for the second time, enabling Wilkin and Tremblay to excel on home soil.

"They've put in a lot of hard work over the past couple years," Companion said. "They have a lot of talent but they've also taken responsibility for continuing to develop. They push each other and feed of each other's energy.

"They both deserve to be part of that accomplishment," she added.

Wilkin and Tremblay went into the shoot confident they could top last year's winning score of 1,125, which they did.

"I'm kind of glad we didn't have a shoot-off," Tremblay said. "I'd prefer to tie with my teammate and best friend."

Tremblay finished fifth at regionals last year and Wilkin had to drop out of the event with an injury. Although both were outdoorsmen growing up, they didn't start competing until college.

Archery combines focus, concentration and muscle memory.

"It takes practice," Tremblay said, "and knowing how everything feels. Most people are capable of aiming accurately, but what they lack who aren't good shooters is a consistent shot."